Good point. I feel pretty dumb, now. Back when I last played a hunter at cap it was still Cataclysm, and IIRC Spirit Bond wasn't implemented yet. (I could be wrong; my memory is terrible sometimes.) Thanks for the clarification; Chimera Shot is garbage compared to that kind of healing.
Edit to add, though, that MM hunters can also take Spirit Bond and Chimera Shot, so you could have both, but then you do lose your pets being as good at keeping things off of you, so BM might still be much more preferable.
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